To Gilgamesh

This is just to say I saw
the way your hips gave
and splayed you on ice—
you got right up, smiling,
but still a reminder is due,
less to you than to gods
I don’t believe or genes
I can’t predict, and it is this:
remember that brazen promise
made when you weren’t even
grown; seventeen years, each
of them whole and joyous—
a crazy promise, but possible;
remember I am not prepared
for mortality and we talked
about this—cherished familiar
bones hold, beloved live long;
what good are stubborn promises
if I can’t protect you from falling?

5 responses to “To Gilgamesh”

Gilly has no Lyme Disease, and apparently his hips are totally solid under all that athlete’s muscle (there was much praise for his beefcake – and the lady at the desk was mightily impressed with his ‘elegant posture’ and ‘those eyes!’ Work it, Gilly).

His marvelous vet suspects his right kneecap of being tricky. If it is a luxating patella, I guess he might or might not need some surgery: not clear yet. If that’s what it is, is isn’t very severe, but it could be going out on him and causing the spills.

Except for the occasional falling down off and on this week – which doesn’t seem to involve pain at all, just momentary embarrassment – he feels just fine.

Gilgamesh's mother was a Dalmatian and his father was a god. He is an athlete, a comedian, a quantum physicist, and is under consideration for both a Nobel Peace Prize and an Emmy Award. His current project is hacking into NASA while swimming the English Channel. He is prone to hyperbole. He is also starving to death and has never been given a treat in his whole life.
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If you'd like to enter the frenzied bidding war over the rights to his memoirs - which are engraved on stone tablets - email us at gilgablog (at) gmail (dot) com.
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If you don't know where the name Gilgamesh comes from, you should read this right away.
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Gilly came from the Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center when he was a 7 week old lump closely resembling a thoroughly-chewed kalamata olive pit. He was one of 10 puppies whose pregnant mother was tied to a lamp-post and abandoned. Please spay and neuter, and adopt homeless animals. And please: send shelter or rescue organizations money, volunteer, or call to see if there's anything else you can do. They need your help.
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Welcome and enjoy.